Synthesis
by Urby
Summary: The room was so empty, and he was suddenly afraid of it. It felt like...Like a prison.
1. Chapter 1

Boogabooga! Urby here, with a treat for ya'hall!  
Posh, Urbs, everything from you's a treat!  
Oh, cut it out with the praise. Anyway, I'm here with some new material! This time, I'm focusing on one of the most ignored (and coolest) characters, Corrine! Who doesn't love that blue-tailed yellow guy?  
I don't know much about this subject, or even if it was gone into any detail in the game (maybe I should play it...haha) but hey! That's what fanfiction is about, eh? And it it's inaccurate...well, I can always make it AU!

* * *

"Look, look! It's moving!"

"You sure it isn't just the glass?"

"No, no, look! It jerked a little - again! There it was! It's alive!"

"Oh!"

"Ah!"

"Ew!"

"That, everyone, is the work of countless nights of computing and praying. All that hard work...I say, out with the champagne already!"

"I second that!"

The object in question was a little mass of discolored fur, suspended in a sickly green fluid. Like the people around it exclaimed, it occasionally twitched in the center, where a heart was forming. Even though it couldn't hear or see, it could still think.

It couldn't think very thoroughly, the brain wasn't all there and it didn't know anything much to think about, but the first thing it thought was that it was cold.

It didn't know any words to express that numbly feeling and it didn't know much about it, other than it was there and it didn't like it.

It tried to move, but nothing did. Just the little thumping that was a heart. It tried to make a sound, but there as just the constant, but erratic, beating.

All of a sudden, it was afraid of it, that little throbbing, and it wanted it to go away. But it didn't, and it slowly, slowly settled down to a softer, more even rhythm.

It learned to ignore the sound.

For the next few days, the people crowded around the thing, recording any new changes and movements. It felt very bored, but it didn't know what being bored was, or anything to do, so it just focused on growing.

After what seemed to be a very long time, a time of what it thought was unchanging and dull, it felt the cold drain and heard a pop.

It felt something new. Paws, a tail, a nose, ears. Fur, which was sticky and wet. It didn't know where they came from, not realizing how much it had grown. Then it felt cold again.

The people surrounded it, waiting for a reaction.

"Not moving..."

"Maybe we took it out too early?"

It didn't like the cold and wet. After a while, it felt like it was being squished. It was suffocating, since it didn't know how to breathe. In the fluid, air came to it without it doing anything about it.

All the uncomfortable feelings bothered it, so it tried to move. A paw wriggled, a tail swished. That wasn't what it wanted. It heard a sound - the people gasping, and went still. It was new and it didn't know what caused it, and it was scary.

It felt weaker and weaker, and it wondered what was going on. Then something was stuck in its mouth, and it blew something into it.

It wanted to spit the thing out, so it coughed. That thing hurt! It cried out, a little squeak, protesting. It gasped, so it could complain some more.

"It's breathing!"

"Oh, cute!"

It wiggled around, squeaking more. It didn't want to be cold and wet anymore. As if to answer his tiny pleas, something fluffy roughly rubbed his fur and dried him.

"So, what should be his name?"

There was a murmur of voices, each mumbling something different. Finally -

"I think the name should be Corrine. It could be a girl, you know."

There was a burst of loud noises that startled him, but he could tell they were friendly noises. After the laughter had subsided, the towel ate him up like a giant fuzzy cloud and laid him somewhere else.

"Good night, then, Corrine."

* * *

The new room was pleasantly warm, a welcome change from the cold fluid. He learned the towel was soft and wooly, but not tasty - but he chewed on it anyway.

After a while, his stomach woke him up, tightening with hunger.

He had learned that a squeak or two usually earned him attention, so he yipped.

"What is now, little guy?" a thing, not a towel, but something that often touched him, petted his head. He tried to nibble on the finger, but it was out of reach. Instead, he continued his frantic peeping.

"Maybe he's hungry?"

"Would make sense."

Something was put into his mouth again, that same thing as before, so he waited for that quick pain again, but nothing happened. He bit on the thing, and was rewarded with some thick, milky stuff that tasted sweet. He noshed on it, gulping down the stuff. After a while he could eat no more and pushed the bottle away, snuggling into his towel.

"Awww!"

"I know!"

The days after that were similar, he would be hungry, they would feed him, he would go to sleep, they would pet him sometimes. He learned to expect them, waiting in his little room.

He would be learning a lot.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer, man:** Like, dood, I was at this store. And there was _everything_ in it. Ways to get hitched when you're three. Twix the size of Texas. (I ate two.) Elvis chillin' in the Oldies section. Got his autograph, that was cool. And I held it - the gleaming rights to Tales of Symphonia...  
And then I woke up.  
Nope, no rights here.

* * *

It was a week or so later when he opened his eyes. The room wasn't very big. There were long spindly sticks connecting the roof and the floor, and they tasted icy. 

It was empty except for him and the little towel, which had gotten shabby from all the chewing. It was bland, and he hated it as soon as he saw it.

He didn't know where the people were. He couldn't see very far out from his little room, and there was no sign of the people ever being there at all.

He yipped, pleading for attention. The room was so empty, and he was suddenly afraid of it. It felt like...

Like a prison.

No one responded, and the only sound other than his frantic cries was the air conditioning, rattling and coughing once in a while. So empty, empty, empty. The people were gone, and the only thing that he could see were a few machines and lots, lots of other cages.

He whimpered and curled up, placing his many tails on his face.

He wanted to get out. To live anywhere outside the cage.

* * *

The people told him about it, even if they didn't know it. They never spoke to him about it, partly because he couldn't understand them, but he could feel their lives, very softly, when they were near. What they loved. What they didn't. 

Everything that he 'heard' was outside. Not the laboratory, not the cage, it was somewhere else.

He wanted to be outside, to feel what outside was like.

* * *

Later, the people with the white coats took him out of the cage. Finally! Somewhere else. Would they take him 'outside'? 

They placed him in a shallow box with no top. Then, the lights dimmed, and a picture in front of him lit up.

"Corrine, that is a mouse."

Corrine blinked.

"Mouse."

The word repeated a few times as the machine processed Corrine's thoughts.

"Mouse?" Corrine squeaked.

"Good."

Corrine had learned that word often came with a pat or something nice, so he was happy that he got it.

Another picture.

"Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat...Corrine?"

Corrine blinked. "C-hat."

"No, Cat."

That word, 'no', was bad, so Corrine looked down in shame. "Cat."

"Very good, Corrine." He perked up at that.

The days passed, with Corrine learning more words. The humans seemed pleased at his ability to learn so quickly, even if they believed he'd never live to see the things he learned about. They let him play in the room, interacting with objects they'd laid out carefully for him to poke at. This thing was squishy, and this one tasted bad. This one made a sound when you knocked it over. And it shattered, too.

He also learned that the 'vase' wasn't something he was supposed to play with.

Then they would put him back in his cage and he would be lonely again.

Then they would put him in the shallow box to learn new words.

"Snake. Snake. Snake."

"Snack." Corrine coughed.

"No."

Corrine frowned. "Snack."

"No."

"Snack!"

"No."

"Snack..."

"Snake."

"Snaaaaack!"

"No, Corrine. Snake."

Corrine gave up and cried. The people would always take him out when he did, and he did not feel up to arguing with the machine right now.

"Oh, fine," a new pair of hands picked him up roughly. This person...! He had memorized all the scents of the people, even if they had a scent of the laboratory, too icky-clean, they had special ones all their own.

This person wasn't a person he knew.

They carried him to the room with the cages, opened the door, and put him back into his little prison. They often put him in different cages, with new objects in it. There was always the towel there, though, since he could not bear moving without it.

Corrine looked for his towel, if only for something to chew on. Funny, it wasn't...

He heard a rustling in the corner. In the dimness, he could make out a...

Hey! He recognized that thing! He had seen it in a picture before! Now, it was moving, breathing, exciting!

"Snack...snack...snake! Snake!" Corrine yipped, smiling. He had gotten the word right! The people would be so proud of him!

"Snake! Snake!" he barked happily.

The thing stirred again. It reared up, glared at him, and lunged, sinking its teeth in his thigh.

* * *

I know. I'm cliffhanging you and giving you a rather dumb chapter. I'm a bad person. Nooooo, don't hurt meeee...  
But, but! Guess who's coming next chapter.  
She wears purple...you should know, though. 


End file.
